tonight one-on-one with vice president Harris as both candidates storm Battleground Michigan Harris escalating her attacks on her opponent as she faces mounting questions on the widening gender gap former president Trump firing back and for the first time acknowledging his own weakness when it comes to female voters both hoping their Blitz through Michigan will be the much needed push to win over the blue wall State and the latest polling on which way key demographic groups are leaning also tonight is the death of the leader of as a turning point in the war in Gaza the new
drone video showing the moment Israeli tanks struck Yaya senoir not knowing they took out their number one target President Biden saying his death is an opportunity to end the war as Hamas signals it's far from Over the renewed concerns for the hostages as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to spiral a former Olympic snowboarder On The Run wanted for running a massive drug trafficking operation and murder the f one of more than a dozen indicted in the alleged criminal Enterprise dramatic video as a music executive tied to the case is arrested at his Miami mansion
and the mountains of cocaine cash and Firearms seized by authorities islandwide power outage a major power grid meltdown plunging Cuba Into Darkness paralyzing the entire Island schools shut down traffic lights are out and all non-essential workers told to stay home the government declaring an energy emergency our team on the ground in Havana Voyer at Sea disturbing allegations against Royal Caribbean after hidden cameras were discovered in the bathrooms of passengers the employee hiding under guest beds the lawsuit the cruise line now faces and an incredible Story of Survival a team kayaker stranded at Sea clinging onto
his kayak for 12 hours after he got separated from his high school paddling team the dramatic video as the Coast Guard spots him drifting in the ocean plus the Urgent search underway after an American was reportedly kidnapped in the Philippines top story starts right now and good evening happy Friday night to you tonight it is all eyes on Michigan as both presidential candidates Court voters in the Battleground state with just 18 days to go until the election tonight NBC is going one-on-one with vice president Harris our Peter Alexander questioning Harris about some of the biggest
obstacles facing her campaign including the gender gap and distancing herself from President Biden what she said tonight about that question both Harris and former president Trump hosting dueling events in the blue wall State even campaigning in the same county just hours apart a new Wall Street Journal poll shows an incredibly tight race in Michigan Harris leading Trump by two points within the margin of error Harris and Trump devoting a lot of time to Michigan a key state which will help decide this election tonight former president Trump is holding a rally in Detroit a city he
criticized Just A Week Ago while he was speaking there take a listen our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president you're going to have a mess on your hand she we'll have to see what he says tonight Detroit is the first city in Michigan to kick off early voting tomorrow we spoke with Republican voters in the state about if they will vote early and what they think about the process here's what they had to say and why did you choose to vote early this time around because we wanted to make
it too big to rig we wanted to vote early and make sure our vote was banked and make sure that we could turn out more votes for Donald J Trump I I just don't trust the votes coming in early I'm going to vote in person on Election Day why are you because I don't trust the system okay we're following the latest developments on the state of the race NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander uh starts off our coverage tonight we spoke to vice president Harris moments after her Grand Rapids rally here in Battleground Michigan where
she sharpened her criticism of former president Trump he who has called for the quote termination of the Constitution of the United States of America at the convention you cast yourself as a joyful Warrior but in recent rallies you've increasingly attacked War President Trump as an unstable and unhinged is that an effective closing is that an effective closing argument I think said one is not to the exclusion of the other and I have a great deal of optimism as do the people who are here about the future of our country that is not in conflict with
also being cleare eyed about the danger that Donald Trump poses based on the language that he has used and and his admiration for dictators his inability to really focus on the needs of the American people in particular working people these things are not in Conflict they all exist at the same time the critics who say the joy is gone you respond oh I'm having a great time and we pressed her about the widening gender gap the latest NBC News poll shows Harris leads Trump among women by 14 points but Trump has a 16-point Advantage with
men just today the Harris campaign expanding its advertising on websites that draw largely male audiences like the sports betting site DraftKings the vice president downplaying The Divide why do you think there is a disconnect for you with men right now well let me tell you you can look at this audience and you can see that there are people of every background and gender who are showing up by the thousands and I think it is because they know I intend to be a president for all Americans and that is how I'm campaigning to earn the vote
of every American not only not only about their gender but about their geographic location and and unburdened by who they may have voted for in the past just to be clear though men still say by 16% margin they're supporting Donald Trump right now why do you think that is it's not the experience that I'm having to be honest with you Harris has been reluctant to distance herself from President Biden today casting it as a matter of loyalty President Biden said this week that every president has to cut their own path what is one policy that
you would have done differently over these last three and a half years than President Biden I mean to be very candid with you you even including Mike Pence um vice presidents are not critical of their presidents I think that really actually in terms of the tradition of it and also just going forward it does not make productive and important relationship he's now given you that green light with his comments that you can carve your own path so now that you have this ability to say that to be on your own well no going forward there
is no question that I bring my own experiences and my own life experiences is there a policy that stands out to you in particular either sure I mean my approach to what we need to do around Medicare covering Home Health Care born out of my experience of of taking care of my mother um my priority on housing one because I know what it means affordable housing and the ability to buy a home but also I know that for so many young people who I speak with around our country the American dream dream is just really
Out Of Reach so my policy about $25,000 down payment assistance to help them get their foot in the door the work that I have been doing and will bring to the presidency around emphasizing small businesses as being part of the real backbone of America's economy those Peter Alexander joins us tonight from Grand Rapids Peter we saw there in your report you pressing her trying to understand how she's going to distance herself from President Biden something she said in the Fox news interview did you get a sense of of what she meant by that it's a
good question Tom and I think she tries to explain it as best she can indicating that this is really an issue of a tradition where vice presidents don't criticize the president who they're serving right now but it's notable because just a matter of days ago Joe Biden came out and publicly said that you know each president gets to set out their own course effectively giving her a green light to differentiate herself with him as necessary I tried to give her the opportunity on multiple occasions there to say if there was any policy difference anything policy-wise
over the course of the last three and a half years where she would have done some something different from him and again she declined to do that instead instead indicating some of the policy positions she may focus on going forward it is a challenge for the campaign certainly though right now Tom because the Biden Harris Administration which is in power right now in office right now recognizes that the numbers show that the vast majority of Americans believe that the country at this time is headed in the wrong direction Tom okay Peter Alexander one-on-one with the
vice president Peter we thank you for that for more on the Harris campaigns push on the ground in Michigan I want to bring in someone who knows Michigan voters well democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens she represents the state's 11th District including areas north of Detroit uh in Oakland County she's also a surrogate for the Harris walls campaign and joins us now from the event thank you so much congresswoman for being here I kind of want to start where Peter left off there why do you think vice president har is told Fox News she's going to be
a different president she's going to have a different Administration than Joe Biden but then couldn't draw the difference when Peter asked her the same question well let me tell you I'm here in Waterford Michigan right now with a packed audience this is a community I flipped when I first ran for Congress and this is a community that's going to vote for the 47th president of the United States and that is KLA Harris I firmly believe that she is an incredible leader and a strong leader she did a great job as our vice president to Joe
Biden who is delivered over and over again for Michigan she certainly shares the special relationship that he does with our state and she's going to carry forward on the manufacturing economy but also who she is she gets to be her own unique president and say that and she's so grateful for the opportunity to have served not only as vice president but as a US senator standing up for women's rights and standing up for what michig ganders care about which is our middle class she's about to come in here and she's going to show us exactly
what she's going to do and that's when but congresswoman you know elections are about change right it's how you won your election so what do you tell voters how is she different from Joe Biden what is the change Factor there well Joe Biden's not on the ballot but a twice impeach multiple times convicted felon is and someone who wants to take our country backwards someone who's still litigating battles of the past saying that he's going to jail his political opponents wreaking havoc putting fear into the hearts of Voters I can't tell you in Michigan how
palpable this is how people feel that democracy is on the lines so look I understand you want to litigate and go into every little story and and talking point that's being written but right now it is kamla Harris versus Donald Trump everything is on the line and we are going to stand up alongside unions alongside Ed hater alongside hardworking families and and elect this incredible woman as our president it's happening for Michigan I'm not litigating I'm not there's no talking points here it was a simple question but it's okay let's move on I want to
talk big picture for Democrats in the state of Michigan which you know well Michigan was a solid Obama state right but then Trump was able to flip that state in 2016 with a very close Victory and then Biden's win here in 2020 it was also pretty close right a little bit better than than Trump did in 2016 though so with the latest Wall Street Journal poll well within the margin of error how do you prevent another Trump win here what what are you hoping happens as far as voter turnouts in different pockets of the state
I'll give you this there's a lot of passion around this election there's a lot of very organized Democrats people in communities like the one that I'm standing in right now Waterford that has an organized Democratic operation Birmingham Bloomfield Hills which used to be red communities that have now been going blue and our Democrats haven't been putting their feet up for the last couple of years they've been organizing in the off years they've been obviously organized as we've haded into this election and people aren't taking anything for granted it's a lot of work we're exhausted with
three presidential elections of Donald Trump on the top of the ticket but we're not going back we're going to get out every vote I was with a group of Union women and and they were going into neighborhoods in ways that we have never seen in downtown Detroit we've got 40% of absentee ballots returned in Detroit right now the highest in the state people are racing to cast their votes for commala Harris so we're digging deep we know the other side is working but there's one thing to do and that's come out on the other side
of this Victorious congresswoman before you go you represent also Oakland County and in Oakland County from 2016 to 2020 President Biden is able to run up the score by about 100,000 votes I mean really did much better than any of those other counties around Detroit there how do you make sure that you can deliver that for kamla Harris uh in in two weeks well we've certainly got to make sure that people know that KLA Harris is going to deliver for our economy Oakland county is the heart of automation alley a rich supply chain of Automotive
companies not just the original equipment manufacturers but the suppliers small businesses who are selling all over the country all over the world they need to be able to be competitive and when J Vance comes to Oakland County and says that Investments that we've made in clean energy and Innovations of the future are table scraps and he would cancel it that's not only only canceling automotive jobs that's canceling Building Trades jobs kamla Harris is going to give us the consistency and the clarity of leadership we deserve that's all people want is they want certainty particularly here
in Automotive Land in Michigan she's doing that and that's going to make all the difference in Oakland County she will win by over 100,000 votes congresswoman Haley Stevens we thank you for joining top story tonight all right former president Trump also campaigning in Michigan today highlighting the state's critical role in this election Garrett hake is covering the Trump campaign he's got this report tonight tonight the allout battle for critical Michigan drawing both candidates to the Great Lake State vice president Harris questioning former president Trump's Fitness for the job now he is ducking de dates and
cancelling interviews if you are exhausted on the campaign Trail it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world Trump firing back saying Harris wasn't there in person for last night's Al Smith Catholic charity event a traditional campaign stop like he was she held a rally instead what event have I cancel I haven't canceled she didn't even show up for the Catholics last night at the hotel it was insulting I've gone 48 days now without her arrest and I've got that loser who doesn't have the energy of a rabbit
while Trump earlier acknowledging his opposition to Federal abortion rights is hurting him with Women Voters you have one issue you have the issue of abortion without abortion the women love me falsely claiming most support the repeal of roie Wade I've taken this issue out of the federal government and put it back to the states where they're voting meanwhile both campaigns continue to battle for black men a critical voting block here polls show the vast majority back Harris but for for President Obama has warned she's not getting enough support Ramone Jackson voted for Obama now he
backs Trump I like the tears that he set on moving products or moving uh production to different country that create Jobs Reverend Horus Sheffield III is supporting Harris having a candidate like this with her credentials and everything she's done has just made me even more enthusiastic okay Garrett hicky joins us tonight from the campaign Trail so Garrett an interesting stat penil pania Michigan Wisconsin they've all voted together going back to 1988 right are you noticing any Trends there as you travel those three states are obviously very individual very unique and the Dynamics are different but
they're they're unified usually when they vote at least recently are you seeing any Trends as you're traveling the campaign Trail I what I notice I think I notice it most in Michigan but I see sort of that goes in it in all three states is at least part of the Trump strategy is working I do think they are having some impact winning over more minority voters Latino voters black male voters that's working but they are bleeding in the suburbs and that's going to be the thing that I just don't think we're really going to know
until election day how many of these Suburban women really do bail on Donald Trump that's why you see him in Oakland County today that's why kamla Harris was there there is definitely a realignment happening and I don't know how big or how small it's going to be but you very much I really much get the feeling of that tradeoff happening you know sort of every one or two blue collar uh voters of color who sort of drift towards Trump there's a white Suburban woman who says enough and I don't know who's going to win on
the math on that when all the votes are counted but I see it in all three states great observation Garrett we thank you for that stay safe out there on the campaign Trail for more on the Trump campaign's race to election day Republican strategist Matt Gorman joins us tonight from Washington Matt great to see you as always so I want to start with with former president Trump here right is is the gas running low in the tank he was Mr energy he was a million interviews and now there was some reporting out a Politico but
the Trump campaign denied it that that he canceled interviews because he was quote exhausted is he getting exhausted is he tired and a reminder that's exactly what you guys were criticizing President Biden about I think more than anything else what you're seeing is the Trump campaign realizing momentum is going their way and being a little bit more conservative and putting him out so that way they're not put they're not they're holding the lead so to speak and and I think that's more than anything else give me give me so so our viewers can maybe cut
through the spin give me some some empirical data why you think momentum's going your way I think when you see the the the trends linking in shrinking in some of the states and also for example Tammy Baldwin and Bob Casey now putting Trump in their ads talking about working positively with him both in the future and what they've done in the past when they're running very competitive Senate races in those blue wall States you mentioned as Democrats tells me that not just we're seeing it but the other side seeing it as well and look for
months the Harris campaign had a strategy they were going to try and hold that lead too and this media blitz kind of the trolling around the health tells me they see something in the numbers to that they needed to act upon you know you're seeing some record numbers in States like Georgia North Carolina when it comes to early voting and again North Carolina had issues with hurricane Helen as well I I I wonder if Republicans are at all concerned about that because you know the conventional wisdom usually is those early votes don't help out Republicans
I think you've seen a couple different things right you certainly seen the Republicans talk about banking their vote as you saw in the package there and really making sure that people vote early I think I so it's hard to say that nowadays but also those African-American men Latino men some of the the minorities that we're targeting they're what we call low propensity voters what that really means is they don't vote at every single election say local elections they might vote once every four years or twice every four years so the fact that we're seeing higher
turnout tells me we're sweeping some of those voters in there as well so if we're targeting them that's good news for us Matt I do want to ask you we have some new NBC news reporting about Nikki Haley two sources familiar with the planning confirmed that the former primary Challenger is in talks to join former president Trump on the campaign Trail talk to us about will this have any effect on the race I think it could depending on where she goes right you talk about the gender gap is so huge if Trump can cut down
those numbers that 14o deficit among women to say 12 that outside's impact in a lot of different states so Nikki Haley can certainly be helpful with that and I think it's also very notable that Trump has really adopted a lot of Nikki Haley's answers on say abortion in that debate against kamla Harris if you would close your eyes his answer to abortion was very similar to the answer abortion that Nikki Haley gave in one of the primary debates that you guys hosted here back last November so messaging is important but I think that could really
be helpful with Women Voters Matt Gorman for us tonight Matt always a pleasure to talk to you on top story we do want to head overseas now to the conflict in the Middle East one day after the confirmation of the death of Yaya sinir the Hamas leader and architect of the October 7th attacks in Israel many world leaders now hoping this could Mark a potential turning point in the war but amas saying not so fast that it will not return any hostages in Gaza before Israel withdrawals from the region Aon mclaughin tonight in Tel Aviv
with this update tonight new details about the Israeli operation that killed the Mastermind of the October 7th terror attack the Israeli military released this footage claiming to show the moment a tank open fire ending the life of Yahya senoir the culmination of an hours long battle on Wednesday in which the IDF says grenades were thrown from sino's Direction at Israeli soldiers one soldier was seriously wounded and concluded with the leader of Hamas cornered wounded and alone President Biden in Germany today hoping the moment marks a turning point you think there's a road for peace there
it's going to be harder it's going to be difficult Hamas has yet to name a successor Israeli terrorism and intelligence expert yuram Schweitzer believes sinar's brother Muhammad seen in this video released by the Israeli military will carry on with his brutality unless we find his brother and kill him too I think we will encounter the same policy so you don't think this is going to change hamas's course not in Gaza not immediately hopefully he won't take revenge from the hostages uh but we'll have to see is that a concern that he could it's a concern
tonight there's also concern for 400,000 Palestinians trapped in Northern Gaza this week the US gave Israel 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation the US ambassador to the United Nations warning that a policy of starvation would not be acceptable secretary blinkin arrives in the region next week he hopes to convince the Israeli Prime Minister to stop the war in Gaza and begin serious considerations about what comes next Tom okay okay Aaron thank you for that still ahead tonight the ex Olympian term drug lord the FBI searching for a man accused of running a drug trafficking
ring and orchestrating several murders his alleged co-conspirators including a music executive arrested at his Miami mansion plus an American reportedly kidnapped in the Philippines the alarming reports of a Vermont man shot and then taken away in a speedboat what we're learning and former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler arrested the charges he's facing stay with us [Music] welcome back there is a murder trial underway today in Deli Indiana for the man accused of brutally killing two teenage girls 7 years ago the jury hearing emotional testimony from a family member about the day the missing girls were
found Maggie vesa is there for us tonight in Deli Indiana a high-profile double murder trial is underway over the 2017 stabbing deaths of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German best friends who were in volleyball and banned together prosecutors in today's opening statement saying 52-year-old Richard Allen used power and fear to kill the teens the state arguing Witnesses spotted the local husband and father on a walking trail investigators saying Libby recorded this encounter with a man that day guys prosecutors allege it was Allan who forced the girl girls down a hill at gunpoint stabbed them
and left Libby completely naked covered in blood her throat slit Allen's pleaded not guilty his attorneys saying he's innocent and refuting prosecutors claims that a bullet found at the scene matches his pistol arguing tests were inconclusive the girls fames arriving to court this morning with Libby's grandmother tearfully testifying about the day the missing girls were found saying I saw the coroner's truck driving by and that's when I knew they weren't alive live Maggie this case is obviously so high-profile in Deli in that Tiny Town it sounds like it's been really chaotic there walk our viewers
through what's been happening yeah Tom it's been overwhelming for this town keep in mind this is a community of less than 3,000 people in this case this nationally high-profile case has been hanging over them for the better part of a decade I I want to bring back that video that we showed at the top there it is the top of the piece look at that line outside the courthouse there were several dozen easily close to 100 people we got here bright and early this morning Before Dawn they just wanted seats inside the courtroom they wanted
to see the beginning of this trial the culmination of nearly a decade of mystery uh and it's it's just really kind of permeating throughout the community and because of that Tom the judge has been really working hard working overtime to keep a tight lid on this case she's brought in a jury from about a 100 miles away they're sequestered they can't have any outside contact watch any media coverage and they have a long road ahead this is about a month-long trial with a combined 170 Witnesses expected so just getting under why okay Maggie best first
Maggie we thank you for that now to that urgent Manhunt I was telling you about earlier a former Olympian turn alleged drug lord authorities say he and another man ran a sprawling drug smuggling Network across four countries that had helped from one of Mexico's most notorious cartels more than a dozen people indicted including M including a music executive taken down in dramatic fashion just outside Miami NBC's guad Venegas has a story a raid in an exclusive South Florida neighborhood [Music] Bon where authorities arrested music executive Naim bon bon allegedly just one member of a wide-
ranging drug trafficking ring that prosecutors say became one of the largest suppliers of cocaine into the United States and Canada and was led by Ryan James wedding a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder turn alleged drug lord and now fugitive this group was ruthless and violent they would use contract Killers to assassinate anyone who they who they saw as an obstacle to their operation wedding and his alleged accomplice Andrew Clark accused of a quote Avalanche of violent crime even ordering murders to settle drug Debs including a couple in Canada who prosecutors say was shot in front of
their daughter all of these victims were intentionally shot execution style so their loved ones could see them murdered the details shared in the indictment reminiscent of those seen with Mexican cartels who Federal officials say even provided protection for weddings operations this organization was uh connected to cartels specifically the caloa cartel which offer them protection in Mexico to carry out their operations those operations prosecutors say sending drugs from Colombia through Mexico through a main Transportation Hub in Los Angeles and from there to the east coast and to Canada authorities have seized more than a ton of
cocaine three firearms and dozens of rounds of ammun and at least $3 million in cash and cryptocurrency Clark known by many as the dictator was arrested by Mexican authorities earlier this month attorneys for Clark could not immediately be reached for comment and Bona's lawyer telling NBC news they are not commenting at this time meanwhile wedding whose aliases include El and Public Enemy still on the run and considered armed and dangerous by the FBI guad Vegas joins us tonight from La so guad have authorities made any progress in tracking this former Olympian down uh Tom we
don't know that we know that there is a reward $50,000 for any information that could lead to his arrest now it's interesting that they said that they were working with the ca cartel we know that his accomplice Clark was arrested in Mexico they said that Mexican authorities assisted with that arrest and they also say they believe wedding was living in Mexico with the man who they say was the second in command while they controlled all of this operation so it would make sense to think that part of this investigation or the search for him would
be taking place in Mexico as well as the US Tom all right guad Venegas for guad a wild story we thank you for that when we come back crisis in Cuba after a major power grid failure the islandwide blackout leaving 10 million people without electricity a reporter on the ground in Havana with where the dire situation stands okay we are back down with top stories Newsfeed and we start with an update on the police beating of a black man who was deaf and had cerebral paly in Arizona Maricopa County's top prosecutor has dropped all charges
against 34-year-old Tyron mcalpin graphic video we first showed you earlier this week shows officers hitting him and using a taser after he did not hear their commands he was originally charged with resisting arrest an American man has reportedly been kidnapped in the Philippines the man has been identified as 26-year-old Elliot Eastman from Vermont Philippine police say they are investigating reports Eastman was shot in the leg before being dragged into a speedboat that fled South the state department is monitoring the situation former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was arrested on DUI and gun charges police took
Cutler into custody after a minor car crash in Franklin Tennessee according to an arrest affidavit he allegedly smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words authorities say a rifle and a loaded handgun were found in the car Cutler was released on $5,000 bail he tried reaching this we tried reaching the representative for comment but have not heard back from anyone on his team and Royal Caribbean sued by some of its former passengers after hidden cameras were placed in their rooms according to the suit a former employee put cameras in guest bathrooms and he also hid
under the bed and recorded guest with his cell phone the passengers now alleging the crew line could have done more to protect guest privacy Arvin mol who you just saw there the employee was fired by the company and is currently serving 30 years in federal prison okay now to the Americas and the ongoing Energy emergency in Cuba the country's power grid completely failing plunging Cuba Into Darkness and impacting its more than 10 million residents the country still waiting for the electrical grid to be restored as the situation becomes more and more dire for the Cuban
people I want to get right over to Ed August who's on the ground for us in Havana tonight with the latest on how extensive the outage is and how it's affecting the residents this massive energy crisis that Cubans have gotten used to affects people massively I mean just think the reality of living without electricity you go to your fridge it's warm the food's going to go off more quickly because it's because there's no electricity to keep it cold you want to sleep it's the Caribbean it's hot you can't put the fan on to keep the
mosquitoes at Bay and if you got air conditioning well that that that's that doesn't work because there's no electricity the list just goes on and on and on and it wears people down and these power Cuts they're not short right this has been going on for not only months years here in the capital we're fairly privileged um but where I live um like most people that live in the capital I have to go without power two or three times a week for four hours at a time in the provinces it's far far worse so things
already difficult but last night at 11:00 the Prime Minister announced things were going to get even more difficult because the country can't now afford enough petrol so schools are closed lots of workplaces are closed the economy as the Prime Minister himself described for the rest of the week will be paralyzed and today just straight out of the blue uh the uh the main power plant that uh the country relies on to get the electricity that's still there to the nation in the context of these new emergency measures conked out it broke down and right now
as far as We Know the majority of the country is still without electricity although the state is reporting that some parts of the country are gradually getting electricity back so people are just at their wit's end people think I can't do this anymore I mean how long is this going to go on for and they see a government that's not coming up with the goods it's talking about Solutions but right now people are living in blackouts in terms of why this is happening um the analysts I speak to give me two reasons first US sanctions
now I know for many people that's a cliche the government often uses it as an excuse use but they are real and they've never been stronger the Trump Administration um enacted what they described as maximum pressure sanctions and the aim of those sanctions was to increase sanctions on what they describe as the regime they make it more difficult for the country to buy Petroleum in the international market oil tankers were sanctioned by the Trump Administration and the economists I speak to Independent economists say that even to this day those measures that the Biden Administration has
decided to keep in place cost the Cuban State billions of dollars now that's less money it could be argued for police and the reprehensive apparat of state but it's also less money to buy petrol and um repair decrepit power plants the other massive reason of course is the Cuban economy um pretty much everyone in this island is cognizant including the Cuban government that the economy doesn't work and they've promised for a long time years and decades to reform it to make it more productive that has not happened it's less productive today than it was was
certainly when I arrived in Cuba over a decade ago and the result of that is the country hardly produces it exports very little it also has very little um uh foreign currency inflows and so for Cubans it's a perfect storm between US economic warfare that's been ratcheted up on the one hand and a government that is unable to run an efficient uh economy and Cubans are living with the result blackout back to you A big thanks to Ed Augustin and his team for figuring out a way to broadcast even though there is no power right
now on the island of Cuba we will be thinking about all those people who are suffering in that country coming up an incredible Story of Survival a teenager stranded off the coast of Hawaii clinging to his overturn kayak for 12 hours the off-duty lifeguard who joined the massive search and ended up saving the teen's life the moment he was pulled to safety that's next we're back now with an incredible Story of Survival rescue workers in Hawaii saving the life of a te lost at sea the hours long surge taking place in the dead of night
Maya eagland picks up the story tonight the hering moments a 17-year-old was rescued at Sea after spending nearly 12 hours stranded off the coast of Honolulu the chilly incident unfolding Wednesday evening when officials say strong currents separated kahia Kawai from his high school paddling group causing his kayak to capsize in the waters with wind gusts close to 30 mph emergency officials immediately launching a m massive search in addition to our ground search we also had three boats two air assets and our drone team in addition to hfd we had the United States Coast Guard with
one fixed Wing aircraft one helicopter and one boat and Airport rescue and firefighting with one boat for more than 11 and 1 half hours rescue teams refusing to give up eventually spotting Kawai at around 4:00 the following morning Treading Water clinging onto his kayak off duty life guard Nolan kolena pulling the teen to safety I think he was in total shock because he wasn't emotional at all and I was actually crying my guts off because he was he was okay and while I'm pranking like I'm okay I'm fine ke en joining the search efforts as
a Good Samaritan after receiving a text from his wife saying they knew the team and I got a text from um actually from my wife saying that it's one of our friends kids so I was like oh I got to go I'm the type of person that want to go and and be at every call and I know I know last night I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't go out there it was such a pleasure to be able to to call his mom and she's crying on the phone and say Hey you
know we we found him and he's okay Kawai then transported to the hospital suffering from injuries including hypothermia the Coast Guard saying he was in serious but stable condition the teens family releasing a statement of gratitude saying in part quote a very special Mahalo to Good Samaritans friends and family especially lifeguard and Waterman Nolan kolena who went out on his own to search for kahia all night never giving up using his instincts and knowledge of the ocean a happy ending for a resilient team and a community determined to save him Maya eagland NBC news we
thank you for watching top story I'm Tom yamas in New York stay right there more news on the way thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media
